After a week or so off, i'm back to work. It was very nice of the company to give off for the entire Chanukah. Perhaps they had other intentions, but i'll appreciate it from my perspective.

I had a maid come yesterday, and she's supposed to come again today, to clean my apartment. I didn't intend for it to coincide with the solar system's arbitrary anniversary, nor with the latest sunrise of the year. I've been trying to get her for some time, and for this reason or that it didn't work. She came yesterday, and when she finished, i was reminded that my kitchen floor is actually white. So, i'm happy.

She's got to come for another visit or two, depending on time available, and get the apartment in a more acceptable condition. Once that's done, we'll work on a schedule, so perhaps she'll come once every two or three weeks. Either way, this year i ought to have a clean flat.

There's other maintenance that need to be done. Both my toilets don't work correctly. Until recently one didn't accept solids, and the other needed to be flushed twice. I liquid plumbered them, i snaked them, but to no avail. I reluctantly asked the maintence guy to fix it, and his helper came in. He said they were fixed now. Well, not really. The non-solid works sometimes, the other still needs dual-flushes. I guess i'll have to see if i can get him again. I know i can't snake properly myself.

I needed to sign up for another year-lease, so i had to speak to the main office. I still don't have carpet to cover the area ripped out during the mushroom incident. I asked for the carpet, and she said she thought it was taken care of. I feel like I'm dealing with a wall at times. But, she said being its my fourth-year lease, i can request new carpeting (IIUC, every year can ask for a carpet cleaning) so i did. Let's see where that gets me. I re-iterated my request for a new air-conditioner. Over all, these aprtments are nice apartments, but poorly maintained. I'd move if there was another viable option. Purchasing a house seems to be at least one more year off.

That air-conditioner. Three years ago i used it and set the temperature to sixty-five degrees farenheight. I figured, if i'm gonna use it, i'm gonna use it. Well, i received a three-hundred dollar bill for the month, and was astounded, but accepted it as normal use. That's when my older brother told me what he paid for his house, and i realized something was majorly wrong. Well, i put in a call for a fix, and they "fixed it". Same bill. I was told excuses like i was in the corner aprtment so the sun hits it and heats it more. Or, i have it on very cold, so its always on. Yeah, right. They "fixed it" again, to no avail. So, i haven't used it since. They have offered to "fix it" again, but i am not weasting that much money to test out their mistakes. Further, the air-conditioner is considered a luxury item, so unlike the heat, they don't have to fix it.

Someone told me how to break it easily, so they'll have to replace it. Something about filling a tube with water and having it ice-up. But i don't think that's right. I don't agree with tit for tat.

There's the door on the cupboard that came off. The maintenance guy filled in with a wood filler, but it came off again. So, i just removed the door. It's really not that important to me.

I have a couple drawings to hang on the wall, so i bought self-adhesive hooks. Now to actually get over the "am i sure i'm doing this right" feeling, and just hange 'em up.

I don't know where you live, but I know in CA they cannot charge you rent on days for which things don't work (such as toilets, fridges, and the like). You might want to do some research on the apartment laws in your state and see if you can't apply some pressure to them to fix the broken stuff in your apt. We had to finally do that with ours tog et anything done.

A real problem with having the thermostat set too low can hit you if you live in a humid area. The refrigerant leaves the compressor at a temperature below freezing, so if the compressor runs long enough, the coils always get ice on them. Unfortunately, ice is an insulator (compared to the metal coils); the air you are trying to cool, does not. In a humid area (or period), the ice can build up on the coils rapidly. If it runs so long that the coils form a block of ice, you get essentially zero air cooling e

I hate to break it to you, that is not a nice apartment setup. Heck, unless they are paying you to stay there you are getting ripped off.The carpet thing is inexcusable. I don't recall the mushroom JE date, but that was quite a while ago. It should have been fixed before the next rent check arrived, period. To have not have fixed that is a major issue. Give them a call and tell, not ask, tell them to fix it. If they do not, find your own contractor and have it done. Then either send them a bill for i

I certainly *should* do that. I have a friend who once put his rent in escrow until they fixed his window.I guess I just don't like to rock the boat. Want to come here and do it for me?:P

Whle reading it, i am tempted to follow through. That's until it comes down to doing it, then i shy away.

I did try seventy-eight once on the air conditioner just to remove the heat. It was still expensive. But either way, if it isn't under seventy, i'm not going to be comfortable, so i'll just keep the windows open.